Book - The Shadow Throne

Publisher – Pan Macmillan

www.panmacmillan.co.in

Price – Rs. 250

About the Author –

Aroon Raman is the author of the national bestseller – The Shadow Throne. After completing his Masters in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aroon Raman went on to pursue his MBA from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. When he isn’t writing, travelling, trekking and advising and supporting NGO’s, Aroon Kumar is busy in his Research and Development Company. His second book, The Treasure of Kafur was released in 2013.

The Shadow Throne – Summary (without giving the story away!)

I bought this book when I was at the Goa Literary Festival in October this year. The book caught my attention because the blurb was well-written and had an element of mystery. I had read a lot of novels like this before, but all of them were written by International authors. This was the first time that I had bought a thriller written by an Indian author…Rest assured, I do not regret my decision!

The book revolves around 3 very strong characters – Syed Ali Hassan, an inspector; Chandrashekar, a journalist and his friend Meenakshi Pirzada, an associate history professor. What begins as a murder at the Qutub Minar, slowly develops into a game of hide-and-seek, which soon involves Pakistan’s ISI as well as India’s RAW. As the story unfolds, we find the three characters caught in a dilemma – Who do they trust? Can they save their country from nuclear destruction? Will they get out of this alive?

Why I liked the Book –

The reason I liked the book is that the descriptions are good. For someone like me who is not too aware of politics and the terminology related to it; the book provided me all that information in simple language which kept me informed and yet did not stop the flow in any way. I liked the way the author has added the lyrics of a song that I like in the novel which helped me relate to the book more J! His in-depth knowledge of the subject, the use of appropriate words coupled with a few simple dialogues in Hindi made the book an instant hit with me! I recommend you buy this book if you like suspense, thrill and mystery.

Note: Friends - You can always borrow mine! 

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Green Poems by Gulzar

Name of the Book – Green Poems

Author – Gulzar

Translated by – Pavan. K. Varma

Published by – Penguin Books India

                      www.penguinbooksindia.com

About the Author – Gulzar is an Indian director, lyricist, writer and poet. Popularly known as Gulzar, his real name is actually Sampooran Singh Kalra. He was born on 18^th August 1934 in the Jhelum district of British India. This famous person writes in Urdu and Punjabi as well as several dialects of Hindi. The poetry that he writes is in the Triveni type of stanza. He has been recognized for his great work and has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the Sahitya Academy Award as well as the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Apart from these prestigious awards, Gulzar, has several Indian National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, an Academy Award and even a Grammy Award to his credit.

Green Poems – As the name suggests, the collection of poems in this book are about nature – forests, rivers, rain, clouds and the Earth. Some of the poems also talk about his travels to places that have left an indelible mark on his mind and heart. The poems are thought-provoking and so well-written that you cannot help but immerse yourself in them!

The Reasons I liked the Book – I grew up reading poems, some of them were in the text books prescribed while my mother recited some of her favorite ones to me. This interest in listening to poems and reading them culminated into a strong urge to use the same medium to express myself.

My favorite poem in the book is “The River,” a poem in which Gulzar has used imagery very well to explain something that we have seen so often, but hardly spoken about. Green Poems is a must read if you like reading his stories, watching his movies and love listening to the meaningful songs that he has written!

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